Former Lakers owner vetted before purchase; NBA Commish details lack of ‘red flags’

During his post Board of Governors news conference in New York, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made it clear there weren’t any warning signs about the scrutiny surrounding Mark Walter before he became the majority owner of the Lakers.

Walter, who had been the Dodgers controlling owner since 2012 and a Lakers minority owner in 2021, agreed to purchase the majority ownership stake of the Lakers from the Buss family in June 2025 at a valuation of $10 billion.

Mark Walters had his phone and laptop seized by the FBI before becoming the Lakers majority owner. Getty Images

Three months later, the FBI seized Walter’s phone and computer in September 2025 as federal prosecutors started a wide-ranging investigation into the financial dealings of Walter’s businesses.

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And one month later, in October 2025, Walter was officially approved as the Lakers majority owner and purchased the franchise.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver addressed Mark Walter during his media availability after the league’s Board of Governors meetings. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post

“I will say at the time that we vetted Mark Walter to be the principal governor of the team, again, he was already a part owner, minority owner in the Los Angeles Lakers. We went through the full process we all do,” Silver said Tuesday. “We spoke to governmental agencies. We spoke to, in the case of Mark Walter, a heavily regulated insurance agency. We spoke to other leagues in which he has investments. We found no red flags.”

After less than a year of leading the franchise, Walter sold the majority ownership of the Lakers to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger in August at a historic valuation of $12.5 billion.

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There’s been an ongoing investigation into Walter’s business empire.

Walter’s holding company, TWG Global, released a statement in late August defending business practices and denying any wrongdoing.

The statement also made it clear the Dodgers are “not being sold and no sale process has been initiated,” and added that Walter/TWG isn’t considering selling their stakes in the Cadillac Formula 1 team or any other part of TWG Motorsports.

In addition to the Lakers,…

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Publish date : 2026-09-15 21:00:00

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